Slipped Space
by G'day to you sir
Summary: Laurena Fawkes is an intelligent girl living a relatively peaceful life, despite the constant moving to get her to a better school and the symptoms created from her mental disability. However, something strange throws her off when she encounters a boy who appeared seemingly out of nowhere. What he brought with him would unknowingly shake the foundation of the universe.
1. Chapter 1

Planet: Idyllia (excerpt from CAA Factbook [ 2.15.2651])

Length of day: 30 hours

Length of year: 408 days (local)

Gravity: ~1.09 g

Natural satellites: N/A

Current status: Glassed; terraforming projects under UNSC supervision.

Idyllia was a gigantic colony planet in the Glades solar system that was relatively rich in mineral resources as well as being mostly hospitable aside from the cold tundra in its magnetic south. Its main purpose was being a planetary supercenter for human occupation and commerce, having one of the largest planetary human populations according to CAA records and was a hotspot for lower to middle class citizens and the private organizations that required them.

Having been discovered in 2567 during the UNSC Infinity's expedition for the final Halo rings, the ship's crew had hoped for any samples of Forerunner artifacts, but were unsuccessful in their attempts at excavation. Further investigation was done by Sangheili archeologist squads, but they were also unable to recover any Forerunner traces. The planet was quickly repurposed once searches ceased.

Despite its lack of specifications, Idyllia had proved as a proficient residential planet with its plentiful size and resources as well as having favourable placement between several other major colony planets. However, due to the lack of precious government assets, the planet was lightly guarded, and thus became an easy target for a rogue Covenant splinter group, who was after unregistered and unauthorized human technology (see **CLASSIFIED** ). In 2624, the entire planet was glassed by hostile Covenant forces with over 10 million human casualties, marking the Fall of Idyllia.

…

..

.

 _September 2, 2624_

 _This marks the first entry for the journal of 12-year-old Laurena Fawkes._

 _Today was my first day at the Lasky Senior High School. Hopefully, this school will hold up to its teaching standards, or I fear I may be on the move once again, and possibly to a new planet. I had only moved here a week prior and I'm honestly very tired. Nevertheless, the classes provided here have something somewhat refreshing in mind. In fact, I'm heading to a class called "Post-Third-Dimensional Physics," something meant for college students and maybe seniors at best, so this might be exciting. Hopefully, my Algernon Syndrome doesn't kick in; I'm trying new medication, but I'm skeptical that it won't improve my condition. Hopefully, the episode flares up at home, and I'll only have my teasing mother to deal with._

 _Honestly mom, why did you make me write this?_

As Laurena walked down the hall of rushing students during final period change, she scanned the entry over. Scrunching her face, she hastily deleted the last sentence and reached over her back to stuff the device into her pack. As she struggled with the zipper, she heard the sound of two pairs of running feet. She preemptively stepped to the side as two male juniors sped past, one of them whooped with laughter, holding some small device, while the other yelled angrily and gave chase. As she zipped up her backpack, she sighed at these antics. She made a mental note to file a complaint on the lack of hallway supervision. Also, teenage boys had way too much energy for their own good.

Pushing the thought out her mind, she began to think back to the past day. The school was nicer than what she was used to. Disregarding the boys from before, the students here were very well mannered and civil. Each person held a bit of prowess here and there, but overall, nothing too extraordinary. Only one class yielded relatively disappointing results. Maybe this time, Laurena would not have to deal with any overwhelming incompetence. Maybe.

Before long, she pulled up to a room marked with the number 214 along with a poster hanging on the door that depicted Albert Einstein in Andy Warhol's colors.

"Classic," Laurena whispered to herself.

She entered the classroom, which was seemingly a standard school lab. It sported multiple sinks, stoves, supplies, and gas lines atop of black countertop tables. The far wall had rather large windows, revealing a nice, sunny day, with an emergency sink and shower at the back corner. Near the front of the room was the instructor's desk along with a large display table meant for playing simulations to the class. Currently, a hologram of a large and complicated looking machine hovered above the table.

"Huh, a slipspace drive," Laurena said to herself as she approached the back of the classroom. She walked past a group of crowded teens who subsequently stared at her in confusion. Ignoring their prying looks, she approached an empty desk near the back of the classroom.

The girl was already used to this; she was indeed a very young student in a very technical and advanced class, which would strike as odd to many people. She wasn't even surprised when she turned around and saw a boy at least a foot taller than her looming over with a skeptical expression.

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you," the boy said, "but… are you sure you're in the right class?"

Laurena sighed knowingly. "This is Post-Third Physics, right?"

"W-well, yeah…"

The girl gave the boy a small, albeit smug smile. "Well there we go. I'm in the right class." She turned back to her desk and started unpacking her things, leaving the _very_ confused boy with many questions.

"But, you're so young! A-and this class is hard! Ridiculously hard! Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Hey, don't sweat the details," She continued as she inspected the contents of her binder. "All you'll need to know is that there's a new kid in class who'll be learning some 7th dimension velocity formulas with you."

"Ah… Buh… Wuh?"

"Good! It's been nice talking to you. Now go on to your little clique and be done with it," she said as she shoved the now blushing boy away toward his group of friends who had begun snickering at him after being shooed away by a twelve-year-old.

Leaving them to their own business, Laurena sat down at her desk just as the bell began to ring. A short minute later, the class died down as a middle-aged man entered and stood at the front of the classroom. A list emerged from the front table, which he scrolled through.

As the man called out the names on the list, the girl yawned and was once again lost in her own thoughts. Maybe the class would be hard. Of course, she didn't doubt her own intelligence, but every person had their limits, and Laurena was definitely no exception. This class was known to consistently have half of its students to drop out. She didn't think she'd be part of that half, not in the slightest. But she would need to work pretty hard to maintain that perfect record.

"Alright then, let's get on with it. First and foremost, we have a new student." The teacher announced. He gestured toward the girl in the back, causing the class to collectively turn their curious eye to her. "Laurena Fawkes will be entering this class. Some of you may or may not have heard of her, but all that needs to be said is that you welcome her like you would any other regular student coming into this class."

The room filled with murmurs, likely full of comments of her young age and other more specific information on her. The man cleared his throat to garner the attention of the class once more. "One more thing, class. Er, Laurena, do you mind…?"

The young girl was hesitant at first, but then nodded. "It's alright, Mr. Fauster. Go ahead."

"Alright then. Some of you may know what Algernon Syndrome is, but I'll give you a refresher anyway. It's an extremely rare disorder, but it can cause a person to have ridiculously exceptional learning and memory skills as well as distinguished logic processing, which is likely one of the reasons why Laurena is in this class.

"The downsides, however, are major. The symptoms are seemingly random, ranging from hyperventilation, to agitation, to fatigue, and so on. Though not fatal, they can be detrimental to her and everyone in the environment. So, if you see that something's wrong…"

Laurena zoned out again. What was this, the third time this block? She didn't know, and honestly, she didn't care. Having moved halfway across a continent through train, she wasn't at top notch with her sleep schedule and she still felt tired throughout the week.

Maybe if she just closed her eyes to relax, she'd be more able to continue with class.

Maybe…

…..

…

….

..

Yes. Much better.

Laurena opened her eyes. They adjusted to the dark-orange light that filled the familiar room. She stared at the blank ceiling for a moment, feeling the soft and silky fabric covering her. It was so relaxing, she felt that it'd be alright to close her eyes once more...

…

…?

Then realization came crashing down.

"SHIT!" she yelled out as she jumped from the bed. She stormed out of her bedroom, orange hair flying in her face. She marched toward the brightly lit kitchen. Despite being dazed by the light, she continued on, where she saw a woman standing in front of the stove, fiddling with darkish food in a pan. The woman turned her head to face Laurena and gave her a sly smile.

"Why good morning! How was your-" she began.

"How long was I out?" Laurena growled. She squinted past the woman to answer her own question. The clock on the stove read 8:33 P.M.

Physics had started at 3:45 P.M.

The girl's cheeks flushed. Out of either embarrassment or anger, that, she did not know. Perhaps it was both.

"Ah…" she muttered as she slouched on a nearby chair. On the first day of going to the new high school, she made a fool of herself. Now, instead of being the girl who would exceed the intelligence of people much older than herself, she was the misplaced retard who slept during one of the most competitive classes in all of human curriculum.

And it was all because of that damn…

The woman, Jessica Fawkes, watched in amusement as the youth stormed to the medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of pills. In a flash, the girl was gone. She heard the front door slam, shortly followed by muted rattling and a muffled voice screaming something along the lines of "damn this medication!"

Laurena reentered the household a moment later, with a noticeable lack of a bottle in her clenched fist. She was much calmer, but her face was still tinted with a little bit of red. She sat back down on the seat and stared out the window, where the medicine bottle presumably was. The woman decided she could not hold in her laughter any longer.

"Shut up, mom," the girl said, her glare like a cobra's. Her mother continued anyway, paying no mind to her daughter's annoyed remark.

After what seemed like a minute, she finally wiped away the tears of her dying laughter. "Laurena, you don't have to be so mad! It's just one day, you can make it up easily."

"I'm going to get treated like a kid."

"You _are_ a kid, Laurena. You're just a really special one."

"'Special' I may be, but no one's going to take a kid that they barely know who slept during Post-third seriously," the girl groaned.

"Damn! Did those hormones come in early? I guess you really don't deserve to be treated like a kid."

"Mom!"

"Sorry, that was a little harsh, I'm sorry," Jessica replied quickly.

Both sat in their usual silence after the storm. Laurena looked out the window and at the front street where a bottle of pills was lying. Jessica looked at her child and sighed tiredly.

"You know you're going to have to get that, right?" she told Laurena.

"Yeah… I know."

"You can't just throw that around, even with my life savings keeping things easy, I don't want you wasting anything."

Laurena raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Then what do I see in that pan over there?"

The woman leaned on the kitchen counter with a slightly amused look on her face. "You. Go get that bottle," she demanded half-jokingly as she pointed out toward the door.

"Whatever, Wonder Woman."

"Wonder Woman" laughed cheerfully. "After you come back, I'm reading your entry out loud!" she called after the girl.

"Don't you dare joke about that!"


	2. Chapter 2

_The World of Pokémon – M_ _é_ _lancolie Path_

These past few days, the green trees of Route 16 had begun to change into their bright red and rustic colors, forewarning an upcoming fall season. Prism Tower in the distance still pierced the blue sky, but was now accented with the warm colors splashing at its base. A chilly wind blew through the road occasionally, but the sun, still high in the sky, continued to bestow warmth to the people walking through.

Many were still out and about, walking with their friends, family, and pokémon. The happy cries of children filled the air as they played away from the road and into the golden-red trees. Couples chattered away as they walked the path or sat on picnic blankets. Off in the distance, one could hear the occasional grunts and yells of pokémon and their trainers, who were duking it out with wild pokémon or with other trainers.

Clemont sat at the edge of a path, bathing in the sunlight. He had walked through Mélancolie Path many times to relax from his work as an inventor. Sometimes, he ventured out here just so he could brainstorm ideas for his inventions. In fact, two of them were in the grass at his feet right now.

They were both identical watches on the surface. But instead of clocks, there were digital interfaces. A small nozzle on each device was installed at the top of each screen. Both seemed to be off at the moment, but the occasional whirring indicated that the devices were alive.

Clemont stared at the blank screens of each bracelet. He didn't know how to feel. Usually, he was giddy with excitement whenever he completed a project. After possibly every weekend, he'd finish dinner and head over to this exact path to wait for his – usually late – little sister. Considering the possibly massive scale of his invention, he should be shivering nothing short of an earthquake.

And yet, it was not there. The feeling of anticipation was still present, but it wasn't alone. He immediately identified it as uncertainty. But of what? Of course, the contraption could very well explode, but he has come to expect that by now. He has intensely tested on inanimate objects for a straight month and the device seemed to work perfectly fine (with the occasional soot covered rock).

Still, he couldn't help but feel a little bit uneasy. _What could go wrong?_ he attempted to reassure himself, _possibly everything._ He almost decided to call it off, but when he began to pick himself off the ground, a small girl on skates emerged amongst the sea of people and sped over to him.

"Coming to get me, were you? I decided to finish earlier this time," she said. "I know how involved you are with this one."

"Er, yeah…" Clemont said, deciding to just stick with the plan. "Thanks, Bonnie."

She nodded, unsnapping her pochette to reveal a small, rodent-like pokémon. He poked his head out to look at the contraptions curiously.

Bonnie smiled. "Do you recognize them, Dedenne? Those are the teleporters that Clemont was working on for two months," she said.

Dedenne gave an affirmative squeak and jumped down to inspect them closely. The girl crouched down beside him to pick one up. Clemont unconsciously tensed up.

Bonnie inspected it with a questionable look. "I still can't believe it's this small. You said it was your 'biggest project' yet, right?"

"Yeah…" Clemont hesitated. "Look Bonnie, I'm not sure if I can have you come along… well, I mean…"

"Huh? Why not?" she asked, then gave an annoyed look, "you just want to keep me out of it, is that it?"

"No! It's-"

"Ah, so you think it's too dangerous for me, so you're just going alone."

She hit the nail on the head.

"Well…"

Bonnie smirked, but she quickly changed it to an understanding smile. "C'mon Clemont, you've been confident with your inventions for years! And while I've used them the whole time! Don't act strange now when it's your finest moment."

Clemont just sighed. "We can't say for sure that this is my finest moment. I don't know, this time, it's just bugging me. Maybe I'm just being paranoid."

Bonnie nodded in agreement, but Clemont still wasn't sure. Why wasn't he confident on this one? He was always confident when it came to his inventions. He picked the other contraption and fumbled with it in his hands.

"C'mon, let's go to a more isolated place so people don't panic at what we're doing," Clemont said.

...

...

The two siblings sat at a clearing in the forest with no one in sight except for the occasional wild pokémon who seldom bothered them. Clemont turned on the watch, which produced a high-pitched whirring. The screen came to life, yielding a simple UI with what seemed to be small input boxes. After asking Dedenne politely for the other bracelet he was holding, Clemont turned the identical contraption on.

As Bonnie waited patiently for the devices to "warm up" as Clemont explained it, she played with Dedenne, letting him scramble all over her body. Occasionally, the small rodent would discharge some electricity playfully, causing some of the hairs loose from her ponytail to stand on end.

"So, Clemont, where are we going to teleport to?" she asked as she pet the dedenne atop her head.

Clemont had now begun to type things into the device and was momentarily too concentrated to reply. After a while, he did look up from the screen.

"I was thinking for quite a while, but I figured what I had in mind seemed most appropriate."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow "Oh? And where's that?"

"Well, I thought I'd visit another electric-type gym leader and maybe learn more about pokémon, and one of them I had a keen eye for…"

Bonnie thought of one in particular. _Nimbasa! Please let it be Nimbasa!_

"We'll be headed to Mauville City!"

 _Nooooooooooo…._

"Oh…" she replied, not really hiding her disappointment at all.

Clemont furrowed his brow incredulously. "Hey! What's wrong with Mauville?"

Bonnie sighed. "I dunno, isn't it just some indoor city? Like a huge apartment complex or something? Not all too exciting…"

Clemont gawked at his sister. "Wha- Bonnie! How in the world do you not find that impressive? And you do realize that they designed the city based off Lumiose, _our_ own city?"

She was still not convinced. "Doesn't that prove my point even further? Y'know, why couldn't we just go to a place like Nimbasa? You could check out the Battle Subway… Oh!" Bonnie gave her brother a sly smile. "The gym leader there's also an electric-type user, and I heard she's a beauty too."

It was as if someone placed a charmeleon head with glasses over Clemont. "Why you-!" he growled indignantly. "I'm almost tempted to just not bring you along, Bonnie."

She gave him a surprised look. "C'mon Clemont, not this again! I'm sorry, I'll be fine with going to Mauville."

Clemont answered with an annoyed sigh and went back to fiddling with the devices.

 _Bummer,_ Bonnie thought to herself, _I guess no roller coasters for me…_

She peered over Clemont's shoulder who was now entering "Mauville City" into a box named 'Destination' in both teleportation devices.

 _Hmm… maybe I could teleport to Nimbasa first and have a bit of fun before he notices._

Clemont turned around and handed Bonnie one of the devices. "Here, I've already set everything up, so don't fiddle with anything." He scrolled down through the menu on the screen, revealing a large, yellow button with a house symbol in red. "If the teleporter sends you someplace unexpected or if you can't find me for maybe ten minutes, I want you to press this. It should send you back to Lumiose City, and I want you to try to get to the gym as soon as you can. Don't try teleporting anywhere else, the teleporter needs to recharge for a few days before making another roundtrip."

 _Perfect! I'll just pretend that the teleporter didn't send me to the right place._

"Okay!" she answered, keeping the thought to herself.

…

The opportune moment came up when Clemont heard crackling electricity nearby, caused by none other than Dedenne himself. Using the diversion, Bonnie quickly typed "Nimbasa City" into the destination box as Clemont went to check out the now empty bushes as the mischievous rodent had already scurried back to his owner's shoulder, giggling to himself as tiny sparks flew from his cheeks. Clemont walked back, scratching his head in confusion.

"Couldn't have been Dedenne, he's right there…" Clemont mumbled, only causing the pokémon to snicker even more. "Well, hopefully, it doesn't come back. It's about time we started now, alright Bonnie?"

"Yeah!" she said, more excited than she was before.

"Are you sure you want to bring Dedenne?" he asked.

"Dedenne insisted he'd protect me from harm during the trip," she answered, with Dedenne puffing out his chest in confirmation.

Clemont chuckled to himself. "Well, I'll count on you to do that, Dedenne. Okay Bonnie, go ahead and press the 'start' button on the teleporter."

The siblings both pressed the button. The watches' nozzles began to glow and the turbines within whirred to a high-pitched squeak. It seemed that the surrounding light was sucked into each of the contraptions as the air began to crackle and warp around them. The devices soon reached their climax and they shot twin bolts of blue energy. They both morphed into identical swirling masses of blue with a dark center that floated only a few feet away from the two.

Bonnie observed with complete awe. "Wow…" she whispered, "I didn't think they'd have such a… strong presence."

Clemont only nodded in response, stared at the portals intensely.

Bonnie looked at him, wondering what was going through his mind. It was strange for him to be this anxious about one of his inventions. It never went so far past exploding in their faces.

So, what's there to worry about now?

"C'mon Clemont, let's go," she said, half-reassuring him.

She heard him release a sigh that he was holding. "Right," he replied.

As they walked toward the portals, they heard a low hum that only got louder and louder as they approached. The ground seemed to rumble under their feet, sucking in the light around them, creating a dark and eerie atmosphere. They both now stood mere inches from the entrance to whatever was on the other side.

Bonnie stared into the chaotic and dark void ahead. Its unnatural hum permeated through the surrounding air. Something about it was just… unnerving. She grew more and more anxious. Was this why Clemont was worried?

She began to regret lying to Clemont.

 _I should've just went with Clemont,_ she thought to herself.

"Bonnie."

She whipped her head toward her brother, who now looked much more determined than he was before.

"Stay safe."

Bonnie was stunned by a mixture of her emotions. Surprise, relief, guilt. Unable to speak, she merely nodded back and looked back toward the portal.

 _No backing out now._

The siblings took a final step forward into the darkness.

The portals disappeared, leaving no trace of the two that walked through them.

…

…

A/N: Definitions have been removed for the sake of relying more on the actual story to help readers understand unfamiliar concepts. Reviews are genuinely helpful, I would like to see my shortcomings as well as my strengths. Ch. 1 has been revised once again near the end and this will probably be the last revision for any chapter. I don't want to make it inconvenient by making readers reread essentially the same chapter over and over.

At the same time, Ch. 3 is being worked on as well as something else, but we'll see how that goes.


End file.
